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AI: But I'm wondering, too, during those years that you were in college at UW, it was also the time that the war, World War II in Europe was already going on, and also that Japan was also having quite a bit of military action in China. And I'm just wondering, were you aware very much, in those years, of the world --

RI: Well, see, in those days we didn't have TV. I think we had a radio at home. We had a newspaper at the restaurant, but always some customer was reading it, so I don't think I was that aware about the political climate in those days. And I would say that I was brought up in a very naive atmosphere where my parents were not talking about the war, not to the kids. And so, I think I was pretty unaware of what was going on. Of course, maybe, I'm sure that I heard this and that, but as far as making any opinion or reaction to it, I don't remember. I think I was pretty naive.

AI: Well, now, at the same time that you were going to college, of course, Gordon Hirabayashi got in the news. I think first he was in the news because of his pacifism. I think first he was in the newspaper because he was anti-war and a conscientious objector.

RI: Uh-huh.

AI: Even before he protested the curfew and the other things later on. I was wondering, did, were you --

RI: Well, I kind of think that, in those days, probably my parents, too, and us, we thought, "Gosh, he's objecting. He shouldn't do things like that." And I think that the Japanese way is to follow with whatever we're told to do and we're not supposed to object. So I kind of think that maybe they didn't like, like that idea. But, that's just what I think now. I don't remember that they said anything, but, I think that the thinking in those days was shikata ga nai, we have to do what they tell us to do. Because my parents were very compliant to whatever they were told to do. You know, the hardest thing was for them to try to clean up the restaurant because they had so many equipment and they had a lease with Charles Clise who was a big property owner. And he wouldn't release them from the lease. So, I think they were paying something, a hundred dollars a month just to rent that place, which seems very little, but this is more than fifty years ago. And even though we had to leave, and clean up everything, he still insisted that my father pay the rent. I think his lease would have been up, maybe, it was a year-to-year lease, and maybe in May he had to pay rent until the end of the year. But that was the difficult part. And then, having to get rid of the dishes and whatever equipment there was, and not being able to sell things. But fortunately we owned a house, and, with a big basement, so some of the big pots and pans and the heavy dishes, you know, restaurant dishes are thick, heavy, they're heavy dishes. Some of those dishes were brought home and they were in our basement. And after we came back from the war, my mother donated them to the church. And at the church I see some of our restaurant dishes -- [laughs] -- but they're thick and heavy, but anyway...

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.